Researcher Yue Wu, a graduate student in bioanalytical chemistry at the institute, said: "All these lamellipodia and filopodia give the cancer cells legs. The metastasis requires those protrusions, so the cells can travel."

Professor Mostafa El-Sayed added: "The method appears to be very effective as a locally administered treatment that ... protects the body from cancer's spread away from the treated tumours, and it is also very mild, so it can be applied many times over if needed."

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.